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Decades on Illinois released a swathe of never before released birth records and contacted the women to ask if they wanted to see them.

They both said yes and received them in the post. It is there they saw the birth certificate with the box ticked twin.

'Tears were rolling down my face,' Etta, who now lives in Hollywood, told the Miami Herald.

The papers had Sandi's address so Etta tracked down her telephone number and called.

'I
hadn’t opened the mail yet,' Sandi, a medical assistant who still lives
in Chicago, explained. 'It’s like someone dropped into my life from
heaven.'

Shared interests: The twins have discovered they have a lot in common including a love of make up, food and singing

Separated at birth: The two sisters were adopted at babies and never knew they were twins. They grew up five minutes apart in Chicago

They soon met and found they had a mutual love for singing and make up.

'We talked; we cried; we talked; we cried,' said Etta.

Having a twin was a hard thing to get used to but since then the sisters have been making up for lost time.

'My twin sister - it is still very strange to say it,' Sandi told the Today programme. 'I looked at it [the birth certificate] and didn't quite understand it. Twin? How could I be a twin and not know it? How could this be?

The women had to explain it to their own families and tell their children they had a new aunt they never knew existed.

'Both of our families reacted the same way,' Sandi told the Herald. 'They said ‘I can’t believe there is another one of you out there.'

The sisters won't reveal their age but they would admit Sandi is the slightly older of the two.

'I don't mind - I'm proud of it,' Sandi told Today.'I could have met my twin and maybe we didn't get along but we do'.

They have met several members of their newly extended family but are planning to have a large family reunion in June.